Day 28 - Mackay to Sunshine Coast - 928km

After seeing the weather forecast for the coast predicting heavy rain for Friday afternoon and Saturday we decided that we would leave Mackay early and make a dash for home to beat the bad weather...after all it is only 900km down the road so shouldn't be a problem! On the run down through Marlborough to Rockhampton we made good time and even found a couple of straight stretches still.

Think I know which bike I would rather be travelling long distances on!

Stopped briefly in Rocky at the Tropic of Capricorn monument....it was less than two weeks ago we crossed it on the other side of the country heading north.

From Rockhampton to home the trip turned out to be almost the worst part of the whole journey..the road is lousy, there was lots of traffic and roadworks...which would be okay if they were doing something constructive but it seemed to be just a case of patching up a very pathetic road.

Home is starting to get very close...will we beat the weather?

Maybe the weather has gone away??

Very ordinary welcome sign to the Coast....

The weather is really starting to close in again but so far we are still dry....Luckily it held off as by now the rear tyre on the bike is totally shot and making for less than ideal handling in the dry so wet roads would not be fun.

The end of the trip...28 days and 18,055km since we started.

Made it.. the rain came down just as we pulled in the driveway at home, 11 hours after we left Mackay.

So that's it...we did it... we had the most amazing time and saw some incredible sights as we rode around Australia in 28 days ....

Coz We Can!!

Some statistics from the trip:

Distance by bike's odometer: 18,055km

Distance by Garmin GPS: 17,358km

Fuel used: 1,154 litres

Fuel consumption: 6.39 km/100l (using bike odometer)

Most expensive fuel: 218.7 cents per litre (On Nullabor)

Number of photos: 20,361

Number of beers: Not recorded!

Licence points lost: An amazing zero

Would we do it again?

Absolutely...In a heartbeat!

Day 27 - Cairns to Mackay - 786km

Today we started the final leg of the trip down the Queensland Coast via the Bruce Highway. I was a very painful ride from Cairns down to Townsville due to lots of traffic, and road is so terrible I don't know how it can possibly be called a highway. We rarely got to do 100km/h for more than a few minutes for the whole 350km trip.

The rain clouds threatened all the way however we didn't really get too much rain which was fortunate.

Still had the occasional straight stretch, however considerably shorter than what we have been used to.

Stopped in at Tully to check out the Golden Gumboot monument to the the record rainfalls received up here. I reckon the Sunshine Coast would give them a run for their money this summer!!

Passing through Cardwell below, some may remember this road from the news last year. It is actually the Bruce Highway which runs through town and right  beside the water on the left. After Cyclone Yasi passed through this road was covered in sand and debris.

More rain clouds over the mountains but luckily that's where they stayed.

Stopped for lunch at Townsville then continued on. Road improved slightly and a little less traffic so made bit better time on this leg. Was quite scenic at times even with the threatening weather.

Look Mum....no hands!!!

Eventually arrived in Mackay about 5pm which was quite a long day for the mileage we did. Accommodation was bit harder to get as a lot of hotels and motels had No Vacancy signs out, I guess due to the town being part of the mining action.

Day 26 - Karumba to Cairns - 822km

Our plan was to get to Cairns today which was about 800km so we headed off early just as the sun was coming up. Had to dodge a lot of suicidal birds along the way and at one stage was so busy avoiding them that a kangaroo suddenly appeared in front of us however with some heavy breaking and swerving managed to avoid him. 

Back in Normanton is this replica of the largest crocodile ever captured in the world. It is more than 8metres long and weighed over 2 tonnes. It was shot by a lady in the Norman River at Karumba back in 1956 and is listed in the Guiness Book of Records.

We popped back into the Railway Station for a closer look at the Gulflander which as it turned out is  leaving today on its first trip of the dry season after the tracks have been repaired and cleared. It takes 5 hours for the trip to Croydon...we will take about 1.5 hours for the same trip on the bike.

Passing through Croydon snapped this shot of the Club Hotel which was built in 1887. Every country town in Australia seems to have a Club Hotel.

Along the way we saw a lot of birdlife including several large groups of Black Cockatoos.

Despite the tourist info places telling us about all the one lane roads it turned out there was very little of it. About 100km in total out of about a 800km stretch so we had no real problems.

We came across the occasional obstacle on the narrow roads but it was no real problem just to slow down, move over and let them past.

Eventually we made it to the Tablelands area and the scenery changed quite dramatically to very green hilly country.

And even better the end of the long straight stretches and the beginning of the windy sections including down the range from Kuranda into Smithfield north of Cairns. Only problem is that the new tyres fitted way back in Perth were now quite worn and flattened off again so it made for a little bit of hardwork around these roads. Seems I will have to replace the tyres again when we get back home. We ended the day in Cairns and now just have the run down the Queensland Coast left to do. It seems a little weird now thinking that Cairns to home is a short quick run...not that long ago it would have been a major effort to ride it but now...piece of cake to us seasoned travellers!! Down side though is that means the adventure is nearly over..hhmm...maybe we could just turn around and go back the other way!!!

Day 25 - Mount Isa to Karumba - 638km

We had a quick look around Mount Isa this morning (didn't take long) and then called into the Tourist Information Centre to get a road report as it was now almost time to decide whether to head directly east along the Barkly Highway to Charters Towers or head north up into the Gulf Country. Previous research had shown there was a lot of single lane bitument up that way even though it was designated as the National Highway 1. After not really getting any clearer picture from them we decided to head to Cloncurry and try to find out more there.

The weather today was cold, windy and wet... not the image I had in my head of Mount Isa.

Along the road to Cloncurry was actually quite scenic compared to the wide open spaces we had become used. Although a few times we had to back off to see which way these mobile steaks were going to move!

This is just one of the river crossing we went over and some of them were quite impressive landscapes.

This photo below is for Dad....did the Leichardt Hotel at Cloncurry look like this back in 1960? I'm guessing it did!

After seeking further advice regarding the roads up in the Gulf from the friendly folk at the Information Centre in Cloncurry we were still unclear and in the end decided to risk it. So we headed off up north for the 400km run up to Normanton. Halfway along we stopped for lunch and fuel at the Burke and Wills Roadhouse.

While stopped there this French guy turned up ...he is travelling around Australia in the opposite direction to us and is planning to do it till the bike breaks...then go home to France..sounds like a good plan!

Of course there were more straight roads to deal with...

And yet more straight roads...just a bit narrower at times.

Eventually we made it to Normanton and saw the famous Railway Station and the Gulflander rail motor.

We decided to go 70km further up and stay at Karumba for the night. This road was good quality but crossed a giant flood plain the whole way. In the wet season it is totally submerged and Karumba is cut off for up to 4 months at a time.

It is a popular spot for barramundi fishing and we had a little trouble getting accommodation but eventually found a cabin in a caravan park run by what seemed to be a bunch of little old lady pensioners. Afters watching the impressive sunset we settled back in the Karumba Lodge Hotel for drinks and dinner. Went down to the boat ramp at end of street but failed to find any of the elusive crocodiles down there.